According to year 2005 statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), deaths from fires and burns are the fifth most common cause of unintentional injury deaths in the United States. Approximately four out of five fire deaths in the United States in 2005 occurred in homes (CDC “Fire Navigation” sheet citing Karter M J, 2006. Fire loss in the United States during 2005, abridged report. Quincy, Mass.: National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), Fire Analysis and Research Division (FARD)). In 2005, fire departments responded to 396,000 home fires in the United States, and home fires claimed the lives of 3,030 people (not including firefighters) and injured another 13,825 people (not including firefighters) (CDC “Fire Navigation” sheet citing Karter, 2006). In 2005, residential fires caused nearly $7 billion in property damage (CDC “Fire Navigation” sheet citing Karter, 2006).
The death rate per 100 reported fires was twice as high in homes without a working smoke alarm as it was in homes where this protection was in place (Ahrens M, 2007. U.S. experience with smoke alarms and other fire detection/alarm equipment. Quincy, Mass.: NFPA FARD). If all homes in the United States had working smoke alarms, an estimated 890 lives could be saved annually, or just under one-third the annual fire death toll in the United States (Ahrens, 2007).
Furthermore, additional lives could likely be saved if the effectiveness of working smoke alarm systems were also increased. For example, even in homes where a working smoke alarm was in place, the death rate per 10,000 reported fires in years 2000-2004 was 55 [although the death rate was higher, 113, in homes that lacked a working smoke alarm] (Ahrens, 2007, providing page on “Smoke Alarms in Reported U.S. Home Fires” from NFPA FARD). Many home occupants among the 55 people who were killed per 10,000 reported fires in homes where a working smoke alarm was in place would NOT likely have been killed if the smoke alarm system had been more effective in warning home occupants of smoke or fire.